During the past several years, the telecommunication industry has enjoyed an explosive growth. The industry has strained to meet the demand. Global, national and regional telecommunication techniques primarily include: (1) telephone networks providing voice, data and FAX transmission using twisted wire, coaxial cable, fiber optics and microwave systems, RF networks; (2) television networks providing television through RF transmission, cable systems providing television through fiber optic and coaxial cable systems; and the internet communication system. Television, telephone and data communication is also currently being provided through satellite-based systems. Non-voice communication including high-speed data, image and video communication has provided a need for data rate communication much higher than that required for voice communication.
Radio communication permits the user to be mobile. It does not require expensive wiring connecting the communication equipment. The problem with radio communication is that the available radio bandwidth is limited. A solution to limited radio bandwidth is to create many separate geographical cells and to use an available bandwidth over and over again in very many of these separate cells. A large number of separate cells using the same bandwidth can increase greatly the number of users of a given bandwidth. The larger the number of cells, the larger the number of potential users. This is the theory behind the currently popular cellular telephone systems.
In the past telephone and cable systems have generally operated on a regulated monopoly basis. Currently, however, the federal, state and local governments in the United States are encouraging competition in the provision of these services. Local telephone and cable companies are reluctant or charge dearly to share their installed infrastructure and the installation of new cable or fiber optics is generally very expensive and disruptive. In many developing countries there is no significant wired communication infrastructure in place and installing a wired infrastructure would be expensive and disruptive. Certain events such as the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl create temporary need for greatly expanded communication in a region. Disasters such as major ice storms or hurricanes can disrupt existing communications creating a need for temporary communication equipment until the existing system can be repaired. Techniques for providing free space optical communications are known. (See "A Brief History of Free-Space Laser Communications" by David L. Begley in Selected Papers on Free-Space Laser Communications, David L. Begley, ed., SPIE Optical Engineering Press, 1991.) Free space laser communication has been proposed for satellite to satellite communication. This is because laser beams can provide high bandwidth long distance efficient communication above the earth's atmosphere. However, free space laser communication has generally not been seriously considered for wide spread terrestrial communication because of the perceived adverse effects of atmospheric condition such as rain, fog and snow.
What is needed is a local telecommunication system, which can be installed easily, efficiently and without significant disruption.